Coming Back Around
by finnick-life-ruiner
Summary: What's Berk like through the eyes of Hiccup and Astrid and Toothless? See more of the relationship between Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid and the others and the events that transpired after the defeat of the Green Death.
1. Chapter 1

The world seems to go silent as the smoke clears; I hear nothing but a loud ringing in my ears caused by Red Death crashing against the ground, exploding into a cloud of fire. We barely made it far enough that we weren't consumed by the fire ourselves. But Hiccup wasn't so lucky. Slowly, the whispers and moans of my fellow Vikings start to fill the air. I hear his name passed around by other voices.

I stood and watched as he fell from the sky into the fiery vortex while Toothless desperately tried to reach him. Yet a small part of me keeps waiting for him to race by on his Night Fury, covered in ash with his eyebrows singed off and a goofy smile on his face, saying 'You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?' Vikings are moving forward, towards the sound of Stoick's desperate calls, but I can't help but look up at the sky. Fishlegs meets my eyes. He seems to know what I'm thinking because he wipes a tear from his face and shakes his head. "Come on," he whispers gently, taking my arm and pulling my forward.

I follow him without resisting. As I push through the sea of mourning Vikings I see the twins holding hands and even Snotlout choking back a sob. I keep pushing through, though I don't feel like I have the strength to. I think perhaps people are just moving aside for me. They know. They all know that if Hiccup is up ahead, I have a right to see him. When I break through the final row of people, I see Toothless. Stoick found the dragon, but there's no sign of my best friend.

Perhaps _best friend_ is a bit of a stretch. Hiccup and I were never really tight. In fact, his best friend before Toothless was probably Gobber. He was always an outsider. You'd think being the chief's son would get you respect, but not even that seemed to help him. I would never admit it to the others, but I always found Hiccup intriguing. It bothered me that he was always wreaking havoc, but I admired his determination. And then he kidnapped me. He forced me to see things his way. He made me see that we had it all wrong. And now he's gone. I feel the weight of the Red Death on my shoulders. The absence of this boy is devastating, though a few weeks ago I wouldn't have been surprised to learn he'd been killed by a dragon.

Stoick crouches in front of the fallen Night Fury. Besides his wrecked tail fin, he seems to be okay. Dragons are fire-proof; Hicup is not. But then he spreads his leathery wings, and curled against his chest is Hiccup. The dragon releases him from his defensive grip, as Stoick desperately checks his vitals. I want to rush to him and see for myself, but my feet feel like they've been welded to the ground. "He's alive!" cries the Chief, and the entire village roars to life. A couple steps forward provide a better view of my friend… and his leg.

Growing up in Berk toughens you up from a young age. I've been a part of Berk's fire brigade for years now, giving me a prime view of all the dragon fighting. I've seen my fair share of severed limbs, and blood and guts and death, but Hiccup's charred, bloody leg is nauseating. It's not the blood or the burned skin that bothers me, but the nights I've spent at Gothi's hut trying to save men and women from similar wounds. I push those thoughts aside and wipe away my tears; happy tears, I think they are. Somehow, Hiccup survived the fiery vortex of death and brought down a dragon the size of a mountain, on the back of a Night Fury. There's something I never thought I'd say.


	2. Chapter 2

The trip back to Berk is tough. Many of our ships are in bad condition and we are all weary from battle. Though I don't want to lose Hiccup from sight, I ride back to Berk on the back of the Deadly Nadder to warn Gothi Hiccup is injured, and to help her prepare her remedies. Though I've gotten the hang of flying on the Nadder, flying without Hiccup is a little nerve-wracking. Flying with him felt safe; I knew nothing would happen to me while he was around on that Night Fury.

I hear the flapping of wings close by and turn to see Fishlegs on his Gronckle. Fishlegs is almost too big for his pudgy, little dragon, but they already seem to get along great. Meatlug, I hear him call her. He catches up to me, though his dragon doesn't look too happy to be rushed. "I thought I'd be more help with Gothi," he explains. "The others stayed behind with the ships."

"That's probably for the best," I call, the cold wind drowning out my voice. Out of the whole group, Fishlegs is probably whom I get along with the most. He's smarter than the other three put together and not as much of a yak-headed Viking.

The sky is getting dark when we finally reach the island. I lead the Nadder towards Gothi's hut, but she's already waiting for us outside. Fishlegs lands a few seconds later; he's better at communicating with Gothi than I am, so I'm glad he's here. She's looking out at the sea ominously as Fishlegs explains what happened. "His leg, Gothi," I interrupt, as we don't have time for the full story. "He's losing a lot of blood; it's badly burned, we need to be ready for when he gets here. I would have flown him here myself but I didn't want to risk it."

Gothi scrawls on the sand with her staff and Fishlegs quickly translates her instructions. The three of us get to work gathering ingredients and preparing her hut for Hiccup's arrival. The wait is excruciating, but finally we see the ships in the distance. Fishlegs and I rush to the docks to wait for them.

Stoick's ship is the first to dock, and immediately people get to work unloading Hiccup from the boat towards Gothi's hut. Gobber fashioned a makeshift tourniquet that stopped most of the bleeding, but the look on Stoick's face tells me he's barely hanging on. I follow the chief uphill to the elder's home, and watch as she gets to work. Gothi becomes frustrated by the amount of people inside her hut and smacks us until the crowd begins to disperse. Gobber sighs apologetically and leads me outside as well.

Though he's probably anxious to see his family, Fishlegs stays by my side the entire time. I honestly can't tell how long they've been inside, the only thing that keeps me calm is Hiccup's unconscious moaning, at least that means he's still alive.

When the door opens, I rush to Gobber's side to peer inside. Gothi is covered in blood and Hiccup is lying on a cot. He's still passed out, but his leg is neatly bandaged and… gone? Gobber sighs and points to his peg leg. "You get used to them, ya know? I remember when I first got mine."

"You… you just chopped it off?" I ask incredulously.

"We tried to save it, but there was nothing we could do. It was barely hanging—"

"That's… that's enough. I don't need to know."

"All right." He shrugged and patted my shoulder reassuringly. "I'll be in the shop if you need anything. I think I can whip something up for him, something a little more his style."

Stoick nods at me as he carries Hiccup back to his hut with the help of Spitelout. "Go home, Lass. He's going to be all right."

"Chief, I-"

"Tomorrow. You can visit, tomorrow." I nod, resigned and watch them until they reach the Chief's home.

I sleep until dawn, and then I can't be inside any longer. I step outside to take a walk and jump at the sight of the Nadder curled up by the side of my house. "What the…" She seems to hear my voice because her eyes fly open and she squawks happily. "Shh, girl, my parents are sleeping." I pet her affectionately and lead her away from the village, towards the cliffs near Gothi's hut. "Do you want to go for a flight? Maybe find you something to eat?"

Up here in the clouds I feel closer to Hiccup. The cold wind is harsh, and I could probably do with a nice saddle, but being on the Nadder's back is relaxing. We land on a small island and she feasts on some cod. "We should take some back for Toothless, huh?" I can imagine the dragon is restless, worried about his rider, unable to fly without him.

When I land in front of the Chief's home, I notice the whole village busy at work. There's almost always some construction going on in Berk due to the constant dragon attacks so I don't give it much thought. There's a crash inside the Haddock's hut followed by a cursing Stoick. "All right, boy, come on. Away from the kitchen." I knock on the door and the Chief seems honestly thrilled to see me. "Astrid! How perfect. Take care of him please. I can't be locked up in here with him much longer."

"Huh? Hiccup's awake?"

"Hiccup?" he asks, scratching his beard. "No, he's still out cold. Toothless is getting restless though, and I have some things to oversee." He points towards the center of town proudly, where a group of men are hard at work.

"What are they working on?" I wonder. Now that I look more closely, they seem to be building something in the village square.

"A feeding station." He laughs heartily at my confusion. "For the dragons! I can't wait to see the look on his face when he wakes up. I was up all night with Gobber making some sketches. I'll let him do the rest when he comes around; Thor knows he's much better at making things."

"That's amazing, Chief." Stoick seems genuinely happy to here it.

"Aye. He was right all along, wasn't he?" He stands for a moment watching Hiccup sadly. "Maybe Berk needs to try things his way for once."


	3. Chapter 3

The next few weeks are chaotic… in a good way. Things are really changing in Berk for the better. Now that there's no need to raid our village for food, we Berkians seem to have come to an understanding with the dragons; we don't attack them, and they don't burn our entire existence to the ground.

My father had to leave for a few weeks to attend some diplomatic-trading-sanction meeting thing and left me with the responsibility of 'dragon-proofing' the island. Gobber and Astrid have been hugely helpful. Gobber and I are good at making stuff and Astrid… she's great at bossing people around. We make a great team.

"Good morning, Chief," she jokes as she barges into my home without knocking.

"You _do_ know I'm not actually chief, right?" I say, slipping on a boot on my one foot.

"Technically, you are while your father's away." She shrugs. "And you hate it." I roll my eyes and dig around the cluttered table for a design I spent half the night working on.

"Not that I don't love your company," I mumble, "but why are you barging into my house unannounced at this hour? If you don't mind me asking?"

"Do you want me to leave?" she teases, taking a step toward the door. I shake my head and pull out a chair for her, which she takes haughtily. "The men had some questions about the stable's roof, something about a missing column and structural collapse or something."

"Well that's not at all alarming," I mutter. I hand her the blueprints and point at the sketch. "See, it's right-"

"I'll just tell Gobber to take care of it," she says looking down at a small piece of parchment. "Also, the twins have managed to set the fire-prevention system on fire, and wanted to know if you could maybe, and I quote, 'design one that's more fire-proof?'"

"H-how did they do that?" I stammer. "You have got to be kidding me."

"They literally just went, 'What do you think happens if the thing that's supposed to set out the fire catches fire?' and then they set fire to it." Astrid laughs as I bang my head against the table. "Oh, come on, Astrid," she starts in a hilariously offensive imitation of my voice. "They want to help. How badly could they possibly mess this up?"

"I'm glad to see you're enjoying yourself." I slap her arm playfully and take a look at her list.

"I already took care of it," she answers.

"Thanks. Let's see. Silent Sven's sheep are missing again?"

"Yes, but Snotlout and Fishlegs are looking for them right now. A Gronckle accidentally broke the pen. Sven didn't say anything, but his hand gestures weren't all that polite."

I shake my head and look down again. "Okay, well, please just tell Gobber to take care of the whole collapsing stable thing; I'd go myself, but Bucket and Mulch have yet _another_ dispute I need to settle."

"What's up with him?" she points at Toothless, who is pointedly glaring at me from the corner of the room.

"Don't acknowledge him, he's being a big, spoiled baby," I say mildly irritated. "I understand he's upset, but it's not like I'm _happy_ to be super busy!"

"He's restless because you have no time to fly him," she reckons. I shrug. "I'll take care of it." Toothless perks up and immediately runs out the door to wait for Astrid. She stands and nods her goodbye, but I grab her hand to stop her.

"Oh, and Astrid, one more thing," I say. "Thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me." She waves an arm dismissively and smiles. "Knowing that you would be absolutely hopeless without me is rewarding enough."


	4. Chapter 4

The next few weeks are chaotic… in a good way. Things are really changing in Berk for the better. Now that there's no need to raid our village for food, we Berkians seem to have come to an understanding with the dragons; we don't attack them, and they don't burn our entire existence to the ground.

My father had to leave for a few weeks to attend some diplomatic-trading-sanction meeting thing and left me with the responsibility of 'dragon-proofing' the island. Gobber and Astrid have been hugely helpful. Gobber and I are good at making stuff and Astrid… she's great at bossing people around. We make a great team.

"Good morning, Chief," she jokes as she barges into my home without knocking.

"You _do_ know I'm not actually chief, right?" I say, slipping on a boot on my one foot.

"Technically, you are while your father's away." She shrugs. "And you hate it." I roll my eyes and dig around the cluttered table for a design I spent half the night working on.

"Not that I don't love your company," I mumble, "but why are you barging into my house unannounced at this hour? If you don't mind me asking?"

"Do you want me to leave?" she teases, taking a step toward the door. I shake my head and pull out a chair for her, which she takes haughtily. "The men had some questions about the stable's roof, something about a missing column and structural collapse or something."

"Well that's not at all alarming," I mutter. I hand her the blueprints and point at the sketch. "See, it's right-"

"I'll just tell Gobber to take care of it," she says looking down at a small piece of parchment. "Also, the twins have managed to set the fire-prevention system on fire, and wanted to know if you could maybe, and I quote, 'design one that's more fire-proof?'"

"H-how did they do that?" I stammer. "You have got to be kidding me."

"They literally just went, 'What do you think happens if the thing that's supposed to set out the fire catches fire?' and then they set fire to it." Astrid laughs as I bang my head against the table. "Oh, come on, Astrid," she starts in a hilariously offensive imitation of my voice. "They want to help. How badly could they possibly mess this up?"

"I'm glad to see you're enjoying yourself." I slap her arm playfully and take a look at her list.

"I already took care of it," she answers.

"Thanks. Let's see. Silent Sven's sheep are missing again?"

"Yes, but Snotlout and Fishlegs are looking for them right now. A Gronckle accidentally broke the pen. Sven didn't say anything, but his hand gestures weren't all that polite."

I shake my head and look down again. "Okay, well, please just tell Gobber to take care of the whole collapsing stable thing; I'd go myself, but Bucket and Mulch have yet _another_ dispute I need to settle."

"What's up with him?" she points at Toothless, who is pointedly glaring at me from the corner of the room.

"Don't acknowledge him, he's being a big, spoiled baby," I say mildly irritated. "I understand he's upset, but it's not like I'm _happy_ to be super busy!"

"He's restless because you have no time to fly him," she reckons. I shrug. "I'll take care of it." Toothless perks up and immediately runs out the door to wait for Astrid. She stands and nods her goodbye, but I grab her hand to stop her.

"Oh, and Astrid, one more thing," I say. "Thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me." She waves an arm dismissively and smiles. "Knowing that you would be absolutely hopeless without me is rewarding enough."


	5. Chapter 5

"What's wrong with you today?" Gobber asks while lighting the forge. "You look as if you've seen a troll."

"I wish. I would happily accept a troll right now."

"Oh, come on, don't be so dramatic," he scoffs.

"You know I can't do that. It's part of my charm." He rolls his eyes and plops down on a chair in front of me.

"Hiccup, things are different now."

"But are they?" I sigh and look down at the book I'd been scribbling on. "Are things really different? I don't feel very different at all."

"Maybe it's everybody else who's changed," he offers. "I mean, look at the town. Look at all the work we got done in just a few weeks."

"He'll probably have plenty to say about it," I argue. "He always finds a flaw, Gobber; it's like a talent of his."

"Well just give him a chance before you two start bickering again. He's very proud of you, son. He always has been."

"Now, _that_ is a lie." I puff out my chest and give him my best impression of Stoick. "Twenty years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen!"

"Well you've got to admit-"

"Yes, I know. I'm a talking fishbone, but that's besides the point!" He laughs and swats my arm 'playfully'; it's still definitely going to bruise.

"Well, I think everybody has a great deal of respect for you now. Even Astrid is talking to you, hey?" Cocking an eyebrow, he gives me a knowing smirk, which I dismissively wave aside.

"Astrid… Astrid and I are just friends," I assure him.

"Friends who kiss?"

"We kissed once. She was just happy I wasn't dead, or whatever."

"Yeah, that's right. A week before she was ready to kill you herself."

"It's Astrid, Gobber." I sigh.

"And you're Hiccup. Seriously boy, you need to give yourself some credit."

I'm about to deliver a signature witty remark when the horn echoes in the distance. "Your father's here."

I run, or rather stumble, to the docks as fast as I can, but Berk isn't exactly built on flat terrain, and I am learning how to not fall on my face with every step off my metal leg. Needless to say, when I get to the ships, my father is already surrounded. I follow closely behind, but we don't really get any privacy until we're both inside our house.

There's an awkward silence for about half a second before my father steps forward to embrace me. I could probably count on my fingers the times my father has hugged me before. "Hey, Dad," I mutter. "How was the trip?"

"Just boring chief stuff," he said with a wave of his arm. "How did you manage while I was away?"

"Well, there was a bit of an issue with Bucket and then there was something else with Sven but…"

"No," he interrupts. "You. How did _you_ manage? Getting used to the leg?" He looks at my prosthetic, probably noticing the tweaks I made to it. "I'm sorry I had to leave so quickly; you were still struggling when I sailed away."

"I…I'm doing pretty well." I smile and lift my leg up. "I was always clumsy before, so there's hardly any difference." He laughs and pats me on the back lightly.

"Everything's looking great, by the way," he adds nudging his head in the direction of the village. "You can give me a tour later, but things look good so far."

"I… th-thanks Dad. Astrid and Gobber and all the men, they've helped out a lot. Everyone's really excited."

"It's all on you, Hiccup." He smiles sadly and reclines on his chair. "I never got to apologize properly for… well, for everything."

"Dad—"

"Son. I know I was hard on you all along, but I was just trying to—"

"Dad, I know," I interrupt. I know it's not easy for Stoick the Vast to apologize, and honestly, I don't want to hear it. For years I could only dream of hearing him speak those words to me, but I've already forgiven him.

"You were trying to protect me… in your own way." I chuckle nervously and meet his gaze; he looks at me gratefully, but I just shake my head. "I wasn't the easiest kid to raise… you were busy with the whole dragon-slaying thing and running a village and stuff."

"Aye, but we can work together now." I nod. "You know, we're going to need someone that can train those dragons, otherwise they're going to tear this village apart. I think I know just the right group of kids to take care of it."

* * *

AN: No Astrid or Toothless in this chapter, but I wanted a bit of a scene with his Dad. Also, I guess this is how the Dragon Academy got started. I'll probably write about the most important events from now on. I don't need to end up with another book-sized fanfic lol.


	6. Chapter 6

"Absolutely not." I roll my eyes and grab my axe before walking out of Mead Hall.

"Wh-what?" Hiccup stumbles into a chair and curses under his breath before following after me. "Astrid, come on. You're being unreasonable."

"I'm not going to do it, Hiccup!"

"Please," he begs me, catching up to me and grabbing my arm. I jerk my shoulder up and slam it against his ribcage, making him stagger backwards. He groans and steadies himself, keeping a safe distance from me.

"We don't even need him to be a part of this. If he doesn't want to help, then honestly I think that's even better."

"He's my cousin," he argues. "My father specifically asked me to make him a part of this."

"Since when do you like Snotlout?" I ask.

"Since never! I- I don't like him. In fact, I very much dislike him." He grunts. "I'm just trying to follow my father's orders, and despite how much he can get on our nerves, he'll be a great asset to this team… somehow… maybe."

I sigh and set my axe down. I lean against the wooden gate of the Kill Ring and pretend to think about it. "So he said he'd only join if I asked him?"

"If you ask him _nicely_ ," he corrects.

"Okay. I'll do it." He stares at me open-mouthed for a second before laughing nervously.

"That's it? I thought for sure you were going to make this a lot harder for me."

"No, Hiccup. What are friends for?" I ask cloyingly.

"Okay, now you're starting to scare me," he says. I shrug and pick up my axe again; swinging it over my shoulder, I march towards Snotlout's house. Hiccup sighs and follows a few steps behind, clearly nervous about my intentions. "This can't end well," he mutters.

I knock on his door twice, and he answers seconds later. "Astrid," he exclaims, leaning against the doorframe with a smirk. "I knew I'd see you around sooner or later."

I smile and walk past him into his house, closing the door in Hiccup's face when he's about to follow me inside. Snotlout seems surprised but quickly recovers his blasé demeanor. "Please, come in."

"I'm already in, you Muttonhead." His smile fades, and so does mine. I lift my axe threateningly and smirk. "This is me asking you _nicely_ to join us for dragon training. Stoick himself wanted you to help out, probably so that you and the twins will finally stop messing around, but I'm only here because Hiccup asked me to, and not because I give a damn if you join us."

"So you and Hiccup? Are you a thing now, or…?" I slam the butt of my axe against his helmet and knock him back against a shelf. He shrieks and throws his arms over his head in surrender. "All right, all right, I'll help!"

"That's what I thought." I smile, pleased with my work, and head outside where Hiccup stands, looking very confused. "Anything else you need me to do?"

"That didn't sound very _nice,_ " he teases. I shrug and swing my axe over my shoulder again.

"Oh, that was nice. I only gave him a mild concussion."

"That seems… fair." I chuckle and push my bangs out of my face. "Thanks, Astrid."

"Anytime."

"Okay… now let's go find the twins!" He laughs nervously and runs off ahead of me before I can protest.

"So… what you're saying is that you want us to join your stupid dragon training school?" asks Ruffnut.

"Didn't we already do that?" asks Tuff. "For sure, I remember I nearly lost my nose."

"No, no, no," says Hiccup. "That was different. We were training to kill dragons remember? But now we don't have to! We'll learn how to ride them and train them and all that fun stuff!"

"That doesn't sound fun," mumbles Ruff.

"You know, it's almost like we lost our time at dragon training," answers her brother.

"Yeah, thanks a lot Hiccup."

I roll my eyes and sigh. "We're not asking. It's an order from Stoick. If you don't do something useful around the village, he's going to ship you off to the Berserkers."

"Those dudes are crazy," yells Ruff.

"Yeah, we love them!" Tuffnut shrugs and then looks at her sister deep in thought. "Do you think they're crazy because they're called Berserkers, or that they got that name because they're crazy?"

Hiccup sighs points at Barf and Belch, who've been fighting over Tuffnut's helmet all this time. "If you don't come to the academy, you won't be allowed to ride your dragon." They look at each other and throw themselves at his knees.

"All right. You win."

"We'll join your stupid academy."

"Even though I'm pretty sure you're not properly certified," he whispers to his sister.

"What about Fishlegs?" I ask as we walk away from the twins, who are not knocking their heads together for no apparent reason.

"Are you kidding?" He chuckles. "He's already making dragon cards for everyone else."


	7. Chapter 7

Being at the Dragon Academy every day is exhausting. Not because it's hard work, both physically and mentally, but because I am surrounded by a band of muttonheads. Fishlegs is cool most of the time, but we only really connect when dragons are involved; other than that, he seems a little oblivious of my dry humor, and is usually too busy reading, or playing with Meatlug to notice me.

Then there's Astrid. She's everything any Viking should aspire to be: strong, brave, and determined. She's my greatest ally when it comes to running the academy, whether I need her to stay up late with me planning the next day's activities, or helping me keep the other riders in check, she's trustworthy and dependable. Or at least so I thought.

It all started earlier this week; we'd had a rough day of training and everybody was tired and irritable. I know sometimes I can push them a little too hard, but we have a huge responsibility to keep Berk safe, and it's really hard to focus on patrol duties and training exercises when Snotlout and the twins treat my orders as a joke.

I crashed against the side of the cliff and rolled off Toothless' back for the third time in a row. Dazed, I groaned and stumbled back, struggling to get on my feet. Toothless helped me up with his head and growled at the Zippleback as Ruffnut and Tuffnut flew over us.

"Sorry, Boss!" called Tuff. "Missed again!"

"That's it," I grumbled, mounting Toothless and racing after the twins. "Everybody get back to the academy. Now!"

"Completely your fault," said Snotlout as I landed in the center of the ring and hopped off the Night Fury's back. The twins snickered and nodded in agreement.

"What?" I asked exasperated. "No! The twins weren't where they were supposed to be! Again! Toothless and I were doing everything right!"

"But you were the one that crashed," argued Ruff. "I'd be very annoyed if I were Toothless." Toothless snorted in defiance and bared his teeth threateningly at the twins.

"Because you guys weren't there!" I sighed and ran my fingers through my ruffled hair, looking at Astrid for support. She shrugged helplessly and gave me an apologetic look.

"They were there when I looked. Sorry, Hiccup, maybe you just need to-"

"What? Astrid. Really? You too?"

"Come on, Hiccup, it's not that big a deal. We can just try again." She gave me a hopeful smile and jumped on her dragon's back again, ready to run over the drill one more time.

"Forget it," I mumbled, leading Toothless away from the others. "We're done for the day, just… just go home."

Snotlout smirked at Astrid and leaned an arm against Stormfly. "Well now we can make it to my place before my parents get home."

Astrid hates when Snotlout flirts with her. Anytime he tries, she kicks, punches, tackles, or attacks him in some way, but not this time. I keep telling myself that perhaps she was distracted by my sudden departure, but then later that same day I run into the twins during supper.

They're sitting at a table, facing away from the door through which I enter quietly. It's pretty late, so the room is mostly empty, but they are speaking just loud enough for me to hear. I'm about to call out for them, ready to put our little dispute behind us, when I hear Tuffnut say her name. Astrid.

"Hiccup is really going to lose it," he continues. "When do you think he'll find out?" I stop in my tracks and sneak closer, hiding behind a wooden pillar barely thick enough to conceal me.

"I give it a few days," she replies, shrugging her shoulders. "When I said she could do better than Hiccup, I wasn't really thinking about Snotlout."

"I sure hope Fishlegs keeps his big mouth shut."

I can barely believe what I'm hearing. There must be a misunderstanding. Right? I step away towards the door as the twins snicker behind me; though I'm curious to know what they think is so funny, I don't think I want to find out.

Fishlegs knows what's going on, so I head to his hut to ask him myself. He opens the door after a few knocks, and seems surprised to see me. He's wearing a simple tunic and looks ready to go to bed, but steps outside without a question when he sees the look on my face. I can tell right away that he's nervous because he avoids my gaze and fidgets with a loose thread on his sleeve.

"H-Hiccup? What brings you around so late? If this is about training, I think the twins were totally messing up, and"

"Fishlegs," I interrupt, "I don't care about that anymore. I heard the twins talking about Snotlout and… and Astrid. They seem to think you know something about it?"

He grows pale and tries to retreat into his hut again, but I grip his arm before he can open the door. "Are you guys? I mean, I don't really know what I saw, Hiccup. I… I don't think it's my place to tell. Why don't' you ask them instead?"

"You do know, Fishegs," I exhale. "Please. We're friends, right?"

"Of, of course we are." He sighs and stares at Snotlout's house, only a few huts away from his own. "I saw Astrid leaving his house a few hours ago. They went there right after training, and I could hear them laughing when I was coming back home. I have never heard them laughing together, Hiccup, and we've all been friends since we were in diapers." He looks at the ground uncomfortably, avoiding my gaze. "When she left she was… she was smiling, and when she realized I was watching she begged me not to tell you about it. Which I did. I'm a terrible friend. I just can't pick sides okay?" He glances at me apologetically before yanking his arm away and retreating back inside.

This can't be. I shake my head and head back to my house; my father must be wondering where I am. I still can't believe it. Astrid and Snotlout? It must be a lie, Fishlegs must have seen wrong because she would never go for someone like that, right? Then again, nobody believes she would go for someone like me.

I wake up the next morning in a terrible mood. I thought about confronting Astrid, but then I realized I have no right to. Her and I… we're just friends. I constantly remind others of this fact when they tease us about our relationship, yet thinking about her with someone else is unbearable. When I get to the academy the twins and Fishlegs are waiting for me. "Where are the others?" I ask.

"Astrid and Snotlout… they, uh, they're sick. Yes, really contagious, best to stay away." Tuffnut smiles, satisfied with his answer and I look at Fishlegs.

"I'm sorry, Hiccup, I really don't know."

"Well, all right then. It'll just be the four of us today."

We work on some drills, but my head's not in the training. I let everyone go before lunch and head towards Gobber's shop. Though I don't technically work there anymore, I still stop by every now and then to eat with him or just to talk.

"Hiccup!" he calls, glad to see me. "How are ya holdin' up?"

"Oh, I'm wonderful," I say with fake enthusiasm. "Life is great!"

"Oh, don't be like that. She'll be done with him soon enough. A girl like Astrid can't like a guy like Snotlout."

"What are you talking about?" I pull out a chair and sit, banging my head against the wooden table. "How do _you_ know about this?"

"I heard Snotlout begging Gustav not to tell."

"Tell what? Huh?" I feel my head spinning. What the Hel is going on?

"Apparently Gustav saw Snotlout and Astrid kissing this morning. Snotlout even offered to let him ride his Nightmare if he swore not to tell you. Said something about Astrid wanting to keep it a secret."

"Oh, Thor. I think I'm going to throw up." Gobber sighs and pats me on the back.

"I really thought you two had something going on. Guess I was wrong."

"I… I need to go."

"Hiccup, wait. Don't do anything crazy, Lad." I ignore Gobber's calls and run back home. Where is Toothless when I need him? I'm almost up the hill when Astrid sees me. She raises an eyebrow quizzically and sprints after me.

"Hiccup!" she calls.

Toothless sees me and runs towards me, flying off the second I'm on his back.

"Where are you going?" Winded, Astrid watches me fly away without a word.

"To the cove, Bud," I groan, but Toothless is already on his way.

I hop off his back when we land, kicking a pebble aside. Toothless doesn't miss my gesture and warbles softly, pressing his snout against my back. "It's okay, Toothless. I might be blowing things out of proportion." Toothless gives me a gummy grin and curls up around me, forcing me into his embrace. "Toothless," I chuckle, "I'm fine… It's just a girl, right?"

He looks up at me with wide eyes. I know it's ridiculous, but I almost feel like he understands. "It's just Astrid…" He perks up at the mention of her name, wiggling his ears happily. "I know you like her, Bud. She's really something, isn't she?"

I sigh and lean against his side, closing my eyes. It's been a long, long day. I try not to think about Astrid, but it's hard not to. I think of all the late nights we've spent together joking around and talking. There's a connection between us that I've never felt with anybody else; I thought she felt the same. "I know… I know it's wrong to be upset about it, Bud, but… there's nobody else like her. There literally isn't another suitable girl in the village. Imagine me kissing Ruffnut… Actually, please don't; I don't need you throwing up your lunch."

We stay there for a while, and eventually Toothless dozes off, trapping me under his heavy hind leg. I hear the Nadder's cry before I see her, flapping her wings as she lands a few feet away from me. "Great," I grumble, trying to lift Toothless' heavy leg off me, but my struggles are futile.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hiccup." Astrid, dismounts her dragon and walks towards me. "Give him a hand, Stromfly." The dragon squawks and nudges Toothless with her snout, who immediately jumps up, startled, and runs off after the Nadder, stepping on me in the process. I fall back on the grass and moan, clutching my leg poor, trampled leg. "Sorry," she giggles. "That could've gone better." She extends a hand, which I take reluctantly to help me stand.

"How did you find me?" I ask, trying to think of an exit strategy. I'm not really in the mood to talk to Astrid. A gaze at her piercing, blue eyes makes me squeamish, and not because seeing her makes me light-headed and jittery, as it usually does, but because I can only imagine Snotlout looking into these same eyes before kissing her.

"You're very predictable." She shrugs and leads me towards an old log, where we sit and watch our dragons chase each other; we've sat on this same log countless times, yet now it feels so different.

"That's the first time someone's said that about me," I scoff.

"They don't really know you like, I do, do they?" She bumps my arm with her elbow and smiles, but I just shrug in response.

"I guess not."

"Hiccup…" She looks crestfallen, and now that she's picked up on the fact that I don't want her to be here, she looks sincerely hurt. "I'm sorry if I didn't side with you yesterday. I honestly couldn't see if the twins were messing up or not."

"What?" She looks as confused as I feel. "What are you talking about?"

"The… the academy. You stormed off? That's why you're upset with me, right?"

It occurs to me that Astrid doesn't know that I know about her and Snotlout, so this is the only reasonable explanation she can imagine for my uncharacteristically sullen mood. Should I come clean, or should I follow along? Despite everything, Astrid is my closest friend, and we make a great team. I don't want to lose that. "I… that's history." I wave an arm dismissively. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better though."

"Huh?"

"I thought you were sick. Very contagious? The twins… they said that's why you and Snotlout didn't show up to training today."

"What?" she shrieks. "No! They told me that you'd said that you only wanted them there today. They said the three of you were going to go over the drill until they got it right."

"I never said that." I frown and search her expression for any signs of deceit, but Astrid seems genuinely confused. "I mean, I didn't completely believe them, I just figured they were covering for you."

"Covering for me?"

"Yeah… you know. Covering for you and Snotlout…" She laughs nervously, but her face grows pale.

"You… you know about that?"

"I heard the twins talking about it, and Fishlegs told me he saw you two…"

"Oh, Thor. I need to have a word with him," she mumbles grumpily.

"Yeah, and then, something about Gustav seeing you, and you wanting to keep it a secret." My spirits fall faster by the second. A part of me still hoped this whole thing was a misunderstanding, but Astrid is not making any effort to deny anything.

"Well, yeah, then it wouldn't have been a surprise, right?" She smiles sheepishly and sighs.

"A surprise? You wanted to surprise _me_?"

She rolls her eyes and shrugs. "I thought it would be fun. I've never really cared much for this kind of thing, but then Snotlout suggested it, and I figured I might as well give it a try."

"But I don't understand why you would want to surprise me, Astrid." I feel my cheeks flush, as I grow more and more irritated. "I mean it's one thing to… well, I mean. It's Snotlout! But to want to rub it in my face?" She opens her mouth to speak, but I shake my head. "You thought it would be fun? Knowing how I feel about you? I would imagine Snotlout would really enjoy himself, but I thought at least _we_ were good friends, if nothing more."

"Hiccup," she starts, but I'm already walking away. I feel her hand clamped around my arm, refusing to let me leave. "What on Earth are you talking about?" She looks both outraged and baffled. "It was just a Loki Day prank, for the love of Thor. That doesn't mean I'm not your friend!"

A prank? I stumble back a few steps and rest against a mossy boulder. "A prank?" I try to say something, but my mind is still reeling. "Huh?" There is an awkward silence between us until I finally recover the ability to form coherent sentences. "You thought it would be funny to make me believe you and Snotlout were going out?"

I see her arm swinging towards me, but I do nothing to avoid her punch. I groan and clutch my aching arm as she hides her face behind her hands in shame. "Sorry," she whispers

"Why would you do that?" I whine, stretching my arm out to relieve the pain.

"If anyone even jokes about me and Snotlout, I beat them up."

"But you… you kissed him!"

"I did not!" she shrieks. I stumble back as she clenches her fists, outraged. "Who did you hear that from?"

"That's what Gustav saw… Gobber told me Snotlout was begging him not to tell anyone because you wanted to keep it a secret."

She gasps in realization and relaxes her fists.

"What?" I ask, worried, looking around for signs of danger.

"I get it now."

"Get what?" I grumble, "Because I've never been so confused in my life."

"Gustav never saw us kissing. He overheard what we were planning for Loki Day and he threatened to ruin our plan."

"Then why would he tell Gustav to keep your kiss a secret?" I ask, sliding down the boulder to sit on the ground. Astrid sits, cross-legged in front of me.

"He must have known that Gobber would hear, and that he would tell you."

"And when the twins said were talking in the hall, and when they said you and Snotlout were sick…"

"They knew you were listening," she concludes. "They knew you'd believe it if you thought they didn't know you were there, so they made it seem like they were trying to keep it a secret. And then they told me you didn't want me at training because they knew you'd think I was sneaking around with Snotface."

"But what about Fishlegs?" I question. "Does this mean he was part of the plan as well?"

"No." She shakes her head and ponders for a second. "Fishlegs just saw me leaving Snotlout's house, and since he didn't know what was going on he assumed the worse. The twins probably had him convinced there was something going on between us. Just like Gobber; they participated unwillingly. It's pretty genius, when you think about it." She looks amazed. "They knew you'd know Gobber and Fishlegs would never lie to you about something like that, so they set things up to make them believe it was real. They made sure Gobber overheard Gustav and Snotlout, and that Fishlegs would see us."

"I have to admit, those Muttonheads are smarter than we give them credit for," I chuckle. "I can't believe they had us both fooled."

"But they don't know that we know." She smiles mischievously.

"Yeah! We can get them back." We sit in silence, Astrid's brow furrowed in concentration, as I pick apart blades of grass. She squeals in excitement and snaps me out of my meditation. "I got it!" I look at her expectantly and she grins. "Okay, so they wanted you to believe that I was with Snotlout because it would upset you, right?"

I blush and shrug. 'Yeah, I mean, you could do better." She smiles but shakes her head.

"But why would they think you'd be upset?" she insists.

"Is this really necessary?" I pick out another blade and avoid her gaze. They knew I'd be upset because I've had a crush on Astrid for as long as I can remember. She seems to notice my discomfort, and smiles reassuringly.

"Sorry…" She brushes her bangs out her face and takes a deep breath. "Well, everybody knows that we're really good friends, right? And they always like to tease us about it, and well, it's pretty obvious you like me."

"Thanks for the reminder," I mumble sarcastically. She rolls her eyes.

"Hiccup, I kissed you in front of the entire village, remember?"

"I… I do seem to recall that," I stammer. "I'd almost forgotten about it, honestly." She slaps my arm exasperated and I laugh.

"We make them believe there was something serious going on between us, and that they hadn't noticed."

"Would that be so hard to believe?" I ask sheepishly.

"Snotlout hits on me every day," she continues, ignoring my question. "So he'd be pretty annoyed by that. Especially because it's _you."_ She has a point; he would hate that.

"You do wonders to my self-esteem," I tease. She laughs and crawls closer, so that she's sitting next to me now, leaning against the boulder as well. Now that I know the whole thing was fiasco, I can relax around her again. She's sitting close enough that our arms are touching, and as pathetic as that makes me, I feel nervous and lightheaded. Astrid's laughs are hard to come by, but she seems more easy-going and relaxed when it's just the two of us.

"Okay," she continues, "so we make them think we were seeing each other in secret to annoy Snotlout, and then we have this huge fight at the academy and pretend to break up, and then you kick everybody out of the academy except for Fishlegs because you think they all knew about me cheating."

"And I take their dragons away, because they can't have them if they're not dragon riders."

"Yup." She smiles. "You fly off with Toothless, and I stay back, heartbroken and confused, because obviously none of it was real. Snotlout and the twins feel guilty, and on top of that, they feel awful because they lost their dragons."

"You know what would make it really believable?" I ask. She turns to look at me with a curious smile. "If we kissed."

"You wouldn't be wanting to kiss me if you think I'm sneaking around with Snotlout," she points out with a victorious sneer.

Chuckling, I nudge her elbow with my own. "I'll… work something out." Glad, that this misunderstanding is over I sigh and relax, watching our dragons happily. Astrid seems to feel the same, and soon she's leaning against me, her head resting lightly on my shoulder.

"So, you were really upset, huh?"

"I wouldn't go that far… mildly bothered seems more fitting. Annoyed, perhaps even slightly nauseated." Giggling, she punches my arm again.

"So why didn't you just come talk to me about it?" she wonders, turning her face slightly so that our eyes can meet.

"I was afraid you weren't going to deny it." I shrug and smile halfheartedly. "Besides, you don't owe me any explanations. If you were seeing someone else… I would have no right to be upset." She nods and turns her face away from mine again, but before her hair covers her cheek, I think I see the hint of a blush.

"Hiccup," she whispers after a thoughtful silence. "I wouldn't hide it from you. You're my best friend."


	9. Chapter 9

"Thank you all for meeting me here," says Hiccup sternly, pacing around in front of us, with Toothless standing straight in the background, ready to take off at Hiccup's command.

"Hey, no problem, Man," answers Tuffnut, "but could you maybe hurry up? We have a ton of pranks to pull."

"Yeah," he sighs. "I know you guys are all busy pulling pranks, and sneaking around behind my back." He glares at me as he says this.

"What?" His brow is furrowed when he looks at me again, as if outraged by my question. "Hiccup, what are you even talking about? You can't just be mad at me for no reason and not explain what I did wrong!"

There is an awkward silence as the rest of the riders watch our little confrontation. The twins seem pleased at the result of their work, while Snotlout looks nervous. He knows when I find out what he did, I'll hurt him. Fishlegs… he just looks like he's going to be sick, never one to enjoy arguments.

"Can you honestly look at me right now and tell me you don't know what you did wrong?" he asks, his voice fragile, almost breaking.

"Yes!" I exclaim, looking at the others for support, but they seem very determined to stay out of it.

"Well, then you give me no choice." His voice is stony as he steps away from me, gazing at the others. "Trust is very important to me. I can't have a team I can't trust. You all knew about this, but Fishlegs was the only one to tell me the truth. Astrid, Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff… you're all banned from the academy."

There's a moment of silence as this sinks in before we all begin to protest, but Hiccup just watches us, unmoved. "Whatever," grumbles Ruffnut, "we hate coming to the academy anyway. Now we'll have more free time." Her brother nods in agreement, and Snotlout just looks at me, waiting for me to do something about it. I just shrug sadly and look at the ground, avoiding Hiccup's angry glare.

"And since you will no longer be dragon riders," he continues with a satisfied smirk. "You can't keep your dragons."

They all go wild. Fishleg's is struggling to hold Ruffnut back, as she thrashes around, cursing at Hiccup. Snotlout is trembling with rage, but he knows better than to do anything with Toothless standing so close. After standing in silence for a moment, Tuffnut sighs and moves closer to Hiccup with his head slumped down in shame. "It was all a joke," he confesses. "Astrid knew nothing about it, so if you're going to punish someone, it should be Snotlout."

"What?" he screams in indignation. Snotlout runs forward and knocks Tuffnut to the ground. Ruffnut breaks loose from Fishleg's grip to go to her brother's aid, and the three of them are an angry, tangled head of limbs until I simply can't hold my laughter in any longer.

They all freeze to look at me. Even Hiccup seems surprised to see that I've broken character. It's all so hilarious; the twins' helmets are tangled together, and Snotlout is cowering, holding his arms out defensively. "Sorry, Hiccup." I chuckle and take a few steps towards him. "You were really great," I add. "You're a talented actor."

"I could say the same about you, Milady." He smiles at me, but still seems confused as to why I ruined our plan. Fishlegs looks exhausted, as if it's physically straining to keep up with what's going on. The twins have climbed off a frightened Snotlout, and are looking at us accusingly.

I stand next to Hiccup and give them a satisfied smile. "That went pretty well, I'd say."

"Yeah," he agrees. "We make a pretty good team." I glance at him for a second, before pulling him closer by the collar of his shirt and pressing my lips against his. He's startled, but doesn't try to pull away, and instead, relaxes after a moment and kisses me back. When I pull away, I'm amused to see that he's blushing, though I can feel my own cheeks growing warm.

"That wasn't part of the plan," he whispers, unable to hide his goofy grin.

"I thought you'd said you'd find a way to make it work," I whisper back.

"Well, I mean, our cover is blown, but look at Snotlout." Ruff is making gagging sounds, and Tuffnut seems genuinely surprised, but Snotlout's expression is completely horrified.

"I think I'm going to be sick," he drones. Hiccup laughs sheepishly, but I can see in his face how glad he is to finally one-up his harassing cousin.

"Who knew beating Snotlout would make you this happy?" I tease, elbowing him lightly.

"Oh, I couldn't care less about Snotlout, Astrid," he assures, grinning at me before looking back at the victims of our greatest Loki Day prank.


End file.
